For applications that must comply with certain regulatory requirements, a file server may ensure content authenticity and retention of data for a certain period of time. Such regulatory requirements include Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4, stock exchange (NASD/NYSE) supervision requirements, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. For example, data has been written to CD-R optical disks to ensure content authenticity and retention of the data.
A file server using a redundant array of inexpensive magnetic disks (RAID) has been configured for ensuring content authenticity and ensuring write-once-read-many (WORM) semantics. For example, a Centera (Trademark) brand of magnetic disk-based WORM device has been offered by EMC Corporation in connection with a policy engine for automatically moving reference data from primary storage to the WORM device. As described in “EMC-LEGATO E-mail Archiving Solution,” Solution Sheet, EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, Mass., July 2004, the Centera (Trademark) brand of magnetic disk-based WORM device has been used for retaining e-mail for a set period of time and also making the e-mail instantly accessible.
Another method of file retention protection uses a volume or file system attribute for indicating retention period protection in connection with file attributes such as a “read-only” flag and the “last accessed” attribute. If the volume or file system attribute is set, then the setting of the “read-only” flag for a file in the protected volume or file system gives the file and its pathname WORM properties. Once the “last accessed” attribute for such a protected file is set with a retention date, the file cannot be altered or deleted until after the retention date. See, for example, Henry Baltazar, “SnapLock Locks Down Info,” eWeek.com, Woburn, Mass., Oct. 30, 2003.